End of the 13th Baktun: Google Doodle marks Mayan Apocalypse

Google has marked the end of the '13th Baktun' and imminent "Mayan
apocalypse" by replacing its usual logo with an image of a stone
carving.

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Google's Doodle to mark the 'Mayan apocalypse'

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Modern Mayans have repeatedly explained that the end of their calendar simply means a new cycle will beginPhoto: AFP

11:49AM GMT 21 Dec 2012

Clicking the image send visitors to Google's search reults page for "End of the 13th Baktun".

The 13th Baktun is the last cycle of the Mayan calendar, due to end today, December 21 2012. A Baktun is a period of almost 400 years.

The date has been misinterpreted as the heralding end of the world, but descendants of the Mayans have insisted the calendar merely resets and there will be no apocalypse. Instead, a 14th Baktun offers hope and change, they claim.

Neverthless, across the globe people were last night converging to witness the apocalypse at sites including Mayan ruins, Stonehenge, Stalin's bunker in Moscow, Byron Bay in Australia, and a sacred mountain in France.

In Central America believers flocked to ancient Mayan sites like Caracol in Belize, where they watched light passing through purposefully positioned structures, just as the inhabitants would have done over a millenium ago.